Preparing teachers to teach comprehensive sexuality education to children and young people: Findings from the Irish TEACH-RSE Research Study: THEMATIC SESSION 7: Sexual education and communication

Comprehensive sex education plays a vital role in realising optimal sexual health and wellbeing in adolescence and across the lifespan. Research has highlighted inconsistencies in the delivery of sex education in schools, nonetheless, the formal education system is a significant site of universal sex education and one of the key gaps repeatedly highlighted, in both the primary and post-primary school systems, is that of teachers’ competence and confidence to deliver RSE.
Teachers play a central role in the delivery of comprehensive and age-appropriate sexual health education and/or information. Teachers are uniquely positioned to provide universal education through the formal education system and to contribute to the provision of sex education in gender and diversity-sensitive ways to children and young people across all strata of life.In Ireland and internationally, a particular gap in research has been identified which relates to the specialised professional development of teachers of sex education. This presentation will report on findings from the TEACH-RSE research study which sought to address such a lacuna.The Study: TEACH-RSE is the first of its kind, in an Irish context, to examine the preparation of primary and post-primary teachers to teach Relationships and Sexuality Education RSE. TEACH-RSE investigated the initial teacher education received by student teachers’ in relation to their competence and confidence pertaining to Relationships and Sexuality Education RSE.
Recommendations Arising: The study has made a range of recommendations on how RSE could be optimally embedded within teacher professional development programmes to ensure that newly qualified primary and post-primary teachers are more confident and competent in their roles as providers of Relationships and Sexuality Education for children and young people in the classrooms of today and into the future.